Creative souvenirs, travel photography trains attract tourists in Harbin

Creative souvenirs and special trains themed on travel photography services have gained popularity among tourists in northeast China’s Harbin, the host city of the upcoming 9th Asian Winter Games.

The week-long regional sports gathering is set to officially kick off in the “ice city” of Harbin on Friday. With 1,275 competitors from 34 countries and regions set to take part, this edition promises to be the largest ever in terms of participation.

A dazzling array of cultural and creative merchandise has been on offer for the continental sports event at licensed stores across Harbin.

The product lineup includes a variety of items such as magnets, pins, stuffed toys, blind boxes and other keepsakes, allowing visitors and sports enthusiasts to take a piece of the grand event home with them.

Among the highlights is an elaborately designed pop-up book, which contains precious pure gold commemorative stamps and collection certificates, showcasing the city impression, historical background and culture through creative designs.

As the Games coincide with the peak tourist season of the Chinese “ice city,” more than 200 official merchandise stores have been seen packed with feverish visitors.

“The refrigerator magnets are characterized by a strong ice and snow feature. My first impression of Harbin is very good, very lively. We can take beautiful photos easily here,” said Xiao Tingfeng, a tourist from east China’s Shandong Province.

In addition to licensed merchandise items, the sales of other cultural and creative souvenirs with local features also surged ahead of the opening of the Harbin Asian Winter Games.

A special train themed on ice and snow travel photography services has emerged as another tourists attraction alongside traditional spots, adding to the excitement and joyous vibe in Harbin. The train K5197, from Harbin to Yabuli town, provide passengers with the chance to change more than 20 sets of costumes, enjoy photography services, and immerse themselves in a unique winter travel adventure.

To enhance the photography experience during the two-hour train journey, passengers are provided with a range of costumes in Chinese, Western, and folk styles, along with a dressing room and a makeup area. All the costumes, cosmetic and photoshoot services in the “mobile studio” are available free of charge.

The carriages feature various scenarios such as Harbin street scenes, European elegance, fantastical adventures, ice and snow marvels, and folk culture, allowing passengers to engage in photography services across different themed carriages.

“I did not expect to have such a free travel photoshoot experience in such a short trip of two hours. Participating in these activities on the train makes me feel the journey become shorter. I hope the trip will be longer,” said a passenger.

“It’s my first time here, for travel with my wife. It was quite good, very beautiful in the evening,” said a foreign tourist.

Creative souvenirs, travel photography trains attract tourists in Harbin

While tariffs proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump threaten to disrupt world trade, markets could withstand pressures due to global connectivity, according to Professor Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate in Economics.

In a recent interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Spence argued Trump’s protectionist aspirations may be restricted by U.S. dependence on foreign economies, particularly its neighbors.

“If you put up tariffs, you probably will have some shift in economic activity. Actually several. So one shift is, with respect to nearby trading at the margin, you get a shift into the United States. But that can only go so far. Mexico is a very important trading partner. These economies are so different that shifting what Mexico does and exports to the United States into the United States is a very costly proposition. So there’s a limit to that,” he said.

The impact of tariffs that target specific countries may be further curbed as exporters find means to circumvent them.

“The other thing that’s going on very dramatically in the global economy is that markets in the private sector are very flexible. So when you put up barriers, they quickly find a way around them. So Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurs are, to use the Chinese phrase, ‘going out,’ which means their foreign direct investment is going into lots of places where you do at least some of the manufacturing there. You pass the test of the rules of origin, and then you’re shuffling stuff around. But eventually a lot of that stuff will end up coming into the United States because it’s not directly impacted by the tariffs that caused it in the first place,” said Spence.

The economist also stressed that tariff threats carry less weight in a world where trade power is increasingly equalized.

“In multiple ways, everybody’s more resilient than they used to be. China’s more resilient. It’s richer. It has a richer array of diversified trading partners. If you go back 25 years, most of the developing world either had low incomes or low middle incomes and were much more dependent on the developed countries for their markets. Now you have a very large group of Asian nations trading with each other in a relatively open system. So I think everybody’s starting from a position of relative strength and that actually helps,” he said.

Global markets may prove adaptable in face of US tariffs: Nobel Laureate